Friday, 18 June 2010

Rendition Case to be Heard in Strasbourg

The case of the former terrorism suspect Khaled El-Masri is due to be considered in Strasbourg by the European Court of Human Rights, according to the Open Society Institute who is supporting his case. El-Masri was arrested by Macedonia in 2003, held incommunicado for over three weeks, and then handed over to the United States, under a practice known since a few years as extraordinary rendition, a very debated issue obviously. He was allegedly flown to Afghanistan, held and ill-treated there and eventually released in the countryside in Albania(!). After pursuing legal venues in vain within the American judicial system, his lawyers are now turning to the European Court, having lodged an application against Macedonia last year. For the press release of the Open Society Institute, click here. For more facts on the case and the application itself, click here.

See also the reporting on the Guardian Legal Network, of which this blog is also a partner, here.